Page 87 of Kissing Games
He kissed the top of her head. ‘It’s fine. As long as my cock looks huge, I don’t give a shit.’
Charlie stayed with Valentina,bringing her dinner as she fielded calls with her agent and family. By half ten she was exhausted. The stress bore down on her like layers of sedimentary rock. The years of relentless work, the knowledge that her dream of moving her family to LA was over, Isabella’s early baby, and now this. The thought of losing the cosmetics contract wasn’t really about the money, it was about losing the opportunity to elevate her career beyond that of B-movie eye candy. She blinked to focus as Charlie gently pried the tablet out of her hands.
‘There’s nothing more you can do,’ he said, running his fingers into her hair and massaging her scalp. It felt so good, she couldn’t help but let out a moan. His phone rang. ‘Fuck off,’ he grumbled. ‘I’m busy.’
‘Answer it. At this time of night it must be important.’
He took the call. ‘Mate?’ There was a pause. ‘Er, I’m, er, in my room.’ There was another brief pause, then Charlie leapt to his feet. ‘Fuck.’
‘What is it?’
He was pulling on his boots, not bothering with the laces. ‘Rory’s about to kill Vlad.’ He stopped at the door, his face deadly serious. ‘Stay here,’ he instructed, then strode out.
Valentina stared at the closed door. How could she miss this? She pulled on her shoes and ran into the corridor. Which way did he go? Angry shouts echoed down the stairs to the attic corridor where Vlad was staying. Valentina started up them as Kirsten thundered down, pushing past her. She was wearing her character’s wig, her face pinched with fury. Valentina ran up the rest of the stairs and got to the top just behind Brad. Every door in the corridor had at least one head poking out of it, except the one Rory and Charlie were outside.
‘Hey, man, what’s going on?’ asked Brad.
Rory turned. He was covered in blood that ran from a wound above his eye and had dripped onto his clothes.
‘Holy crap, son,’ Brad continued. ‘What happened to your face?’
Charlie grabbed Rory’s arm, pulling him back. Behind them, Vlad sidled out of his room, wearing long black robes and a tall hat covered in silver coins. Someone gasped behind her and she turned to see Shauna looking at Rory, her face white.
‘Are you okay?’ she whispered. Shauna started to shake, tears flooding her eyes. Valentina guided her back down the stairs. ‘Come with me.’
By the time they reached the first floor, Shauna was hysterical, repeating ‘it’s all my fault’, over and over again. Valentina frogmarched her to the kitchen used by Brad’s personal chef and sat her at the table. Shauna’s teeth were chattering, so Valentina took off her jumper and put it around her shoulders, then found a bottle of rum and poured a small glass.
‘Drink this, chica. We need to calm you down, okay?’
Shauna swallowed it and hugged her arms over her chest.
‘You like hot chocolate?’
Shauna nodded.
‘Good. Now don’t talk or move until I’ve made it.’
Valentina bustled around the kitchen collecting the cinnamon, milk and a bar of cooking chocolate. When it was made, she poured it out and topped the mugs up with more rum. She sat next to Shauna and rubbed her shoulder. ‘So then, please tell me how any of that was your fault.’
Fresh tears slid down Shauna’s cheeks. ‘His Holiness—’
Valentina held up her hand. ‘It is against my religion to refer to that man as “His Holiness”. You may use the words “Vlad”, or “gonorrea”, which kind of means “sick bastard” but also describes one of his many sexual diseases.’
Shauna smiled hesitantly. ‘Gonorrhoea,’ she continued, as Valentina nodded and smiled, ‘told me to tell Rory that Zoe was coming back to stay at the castle this evening. So I did, but then Kirsten said it wasn’t true, and she dressed up as Zoe and went to his room.’
‘Holy shit.’ Valentina instinctively crossed herself.
Shauna started crying again. ‘So, itismy fault.’
‘Slow down, chica. You can’t add two plus two and get cabbage.’
‘But I did what they said and I should have known better.’
‘Chica, Kirsten going into his room is not your fault. You didn’t dress her up and march her down the corridor, did you?’
Shauna shook her head. ‘But—’
‘This isnotyour fault, Shauna.’ Valentina heard a ringing in her ears. ‘This is not your fault,’ she repeated.
